Yes but our contract offered was a year development one wasn’t it? So I’m guessing we’d offer a senior one after that year? Nobody knows how his development would have differed by staying with us unless somebody knows dr who?

Lets remember that Josh was loaned out by Worcester for a while (Cinderford IIRC) so even they didn't see him as an instant hit. Not sure how we `made a mistake`, you can only judge by what you see in front of you and at the time, he wasn't the player he is now. That said, how do we know that he holds anything against the club, he's a smart lad and knows how the world works. Strade boy and should be back where he belongs.

Lets remember that Josh was loaned out by Worcester for a while (Cinderford IIRC) so even they didn't see him as an instant hit. Not sure how we `made a mistake`, you can only judge by what you see in front of you and at the time, he wasn't the player he is now. That said, how do we know that he holds anything against the club, he's a smart lad and knows how the world works. Strade boy and should be back where he belongs.

The difference which Wil is trying to point out is that if Josh had been offered a full time contract on reasonably small wages he may well have stayed. He would have continued to work on his game with the RFC but he would have been a full time professional. We failed to offer him that contract and Worcester did - his pathway would have probably been the same i.e. lower leagues for the first year mainly and then he would have been given his chance. Look how Steff blossomed.

We quite rightly pride ourselves on our academy system but we should never get too cocky & think we cannot improve. If we had got this right we may now have been negotiating two new contracts with Welsh wingers instead of one.

Lets remember that Josh was loaned out by Worcester for a while (Cinderford IIRC) so even they didn't see him as an instant hit. Not sure how we `made a mistake`, you can only judge by what you see in front of you and at the time, he wasn't the player he is now. That said, how do we know that he holds anything against the club, he's a smart lad and knows how the world works. Strade boy and should be back where he belongs.

Being able to be highest try scorer in the league for a team that was staving off relegaion, and as a 21 year old in his second season as a pro player, qualifies as an instant hit for me. We didn’t feel he was capable of that. I think that’s our over-sight and miss. I have no idea how he feels about re-joining, but the fact he left us/ we felt he wasn’t the right stuff is demonstrably true.

I’m actually just seeing if we are genuinely capable of reflecting on something and acknowledging we might have done it better...if only occasionally.

At the time I dont think he was rated that highly by the Scarlets, and wasn't seen as a player they were desperate to keep. I remember watching him quite regularly for the RFC and wondered why this was the case.

You are joking right? In his 2nd season he was the highest try scorer in the league and contributed as much as anyone to keep Worcester from relegation. I would call it a pretty shrewd investment.

Precisely second season, which he might or might not have achieved with us? I think he’s class now and potentially one of the best wings wales will see, my favourite part is he can tackle to start with.

Sorry it doesn’t look like a mistake to me at all. It was one. We didn’t recognise his talent, declined to invest in his future as a pro player, and he sought to try and make a living in rugby elsewhere. Made a good fist of it too. All credit to him.

Sometimes we need to recognise we aren’t exempt from the odd error in judgement.

Ithink the main point is English clubs can afford to pay more and loan players out than we can. Therefore, any player with any sense about them would take the money.

You are joking right? In his 2nd season he was the highest try scorer in the league and contributed as much as anyone to keep Worcester from relegation. I would call it a pretty shrewd investment.

Precisely second season, which he might or might not have achieved with us? I think he’s class now and potentially one of the best wings wales will see, my favourite part is he can tackle to start with.

Josh seems pretty fearless - Sanjay style - and has brought back a forgotten skill in recent games - 'falling on the ball', which used to be a recognised concept in times gone by - at least twice during the AIs, the ball was bouncing about on the ground, and Josh pounced on it to save potential break-outs by the opposition. In the modern game, you see this at ruck times when a ball comes out unexpectedly, but rarely by backs in open play.

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